1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for generating an electronic signature.
2. Description of the Related Art
A signature traditionally serves the purpose of giving evidence of an intention (e.g., authentication, consent, proof of identity, etc.) of a signer with regard to a document. For paper documents, signatures may be handwritten on paper. However, as electronic documents become prominent, new ways need to be used in order to accommodate the electronic documents. Conventional electronic signatures (e.g., a digital signature) may be created and verified using public key infrastructure (PKI). This may require a signer to store a private key and/or an electronic credential that is uniquely associated with the signer, or to install a dedicated security program in an electronic device in his/her possession. Additionally, the conventional electronic signatures are represented as strings of text, and have appearances that deviate greatly from traditional handwritten signatures. As a result, people who are accustomed to traditional signatures may be discouraged from using digital signatures.
Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 201042970 discloses a method for imaging an electronic signature. In the method, a device encrypts a plaintext sequence using the PKI, based on a private key provided by a user, to generate a ciphertext sequence. Afterward, the device embeds the ciphertext sequence to a preselected image (e.g., a photo of the user, a signature of the user, etc.) so as to generate an electronic signature that is in the form of the preselected image, and that can be verified using the ciphertext sequence embedded therein.
However, generating an electronic signature using this method still involves a private key and requires the PKI to be employed.